Laurel Canyon Blvd. Green Street Project
As Project Manager on behalf of the LA Conservation Corps (LA Corps) for this nearly $4M project, Mr. Smith managed the project from pre-construction through construction completion from September 2014 - June 2017. LA Corps signed an agreement (Memo of Understanding - MOU) with Los Angeles City Bureau of Sanitation (LA SAN) for $2M to complete design development from 30% construction documents (CDs) to 100% CDs. Among other reasons that LA SAN entered this MOU with LA Corps, was the opportunity to employ/train at-risk young adults (Corpsmembers) on a major public works construction project.
Laurel Canyon Blvd Green Street Project
Corpsmember crews under the supervision of journeyman and foremen level Technical Supervisors did nearly all of the demolition, grading, utility relocation, and masonry work, as well as all of the landscape and irrigation scope of work.
The scope included the construction of a ¼ mile of engineered vegetated bioretention basins & 8 dual chamber dry wells along Laurel Canyon Blvd. that would collect stormwater runoff from a 120-acre sub-watershed area. Other scope included a separate series of dry wells at the southwest corner of Pacoima Middle School that would collect stormwater from the 40-acre school property. Other constructed facilities included 1200 LF of new curb & gutter, 5,000 SF of new concrete sidewalk, and 50,000 SF of new street AC paving. CWE provided the engineering and design while Mr. Smith assisted with value engineering to create a more streamlined configuration of bioretention basins along Laurel Canyon Blvd. Design through 100% CDs was largely completed by December 2015.
Construction began in January 2016 and was completed in June 2017. While the original MOU with LA Corps was for a Not to Exceed value of $2M, additional funding was required to address the changes made from the 30% design package to the 100% construction documents. After addressing the changes through the change order process the total cost of the engineering and construction of the project was approx. $4M. Much of the increase cost was because of unknown conditions associated with the street widening portion of the project. This included finding unknown conditions related to very old water, sewer, and gas infrastructure both in the public ROW and on the private property and the need to restore the front yards of the existing residential properties that had not been addressed in the design process.
Construction of this project required a significant street widening of a very busy arterial, Laurel Canyon Blvd., in a stretch that runs through a middle school on one side and single-family residences on the other in the Pacoima neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. This is a disadvantaged low-income area with very old underground infrastructure, the exact nature of which was not known or documented prior to the commencement of construction. The street widening was required for several reasons including: 1) private property (front yards) had encroached within the street ROW; 2) Uninterrupted water flow lines needed to be constructed from the north boundary of the project to the south to create a diversion into the engineered bioswales behind the newly constructed curb & gutter.